Raphaël Fèvre
- Published in print:
- 2022
- Published Online:
- October 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197607800
- eISBN:
- 9780197607831
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197607800.003.0003
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History, History of Economic Thought
The second chapter shows that, in the eyes of ordoliberals, power is the source of an epistemological problem. Eucken tried to acquire a scientific understanding of the driving forces underlying the ...
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The second chapter shows that, in the eyes of ordoliberals, power is the source of an epistemological problem. Eucken tried to acquire a scientific understanding of the driving forces underlying the economic order, what he called the actual economic reality. His ambition rested on a method to escape the given and immediate aspects of the reality, which seemed contaminated by vested interests. Thus, Eucken updated the old German methodological quarrel (Methodenstreit). In order to resolve the great antinomy between theory and history, Eucken suggested articulating these two approaches by means of his theory of orders. Eucken aimed at applying theoretical analysis to the uses and abuses of power in the economy but without falling under the influence of the expression of vested interests.Less
The second chapter shows that, in the eyes of ordoliberals, power is the source of an epistemological problem. Eucken tried to acquire a scientific understanding of the driving forces underlying the economic order, what he called the actual economic reality. His ambition rested on a method to escape the given and immediate aspects of the reality, which seemed contaminated by vested interests. Thus, Eucken updated the old German methodological quarrel (Methodenstreit). In order to resolve the great antinomy between theory and history, Eucken suggested articulating these two approaches by means of his theory of orders. Eucken aimed at applying theoretical analysis to the uses and abuses of power in the economy but without falling under the influence of the expression of vested interests.
